Tag for Killer KITT
by elfin
Summary: Set after the end of the episode 'Killer KITT'. Michael and Kitt have to come to terms with what happened


**Tag for 'Killer KITT'**

**by elfin**

"Okay, uncomfortable sense of deja-vu…." Michael stared at the empty back section of the Semi. He'd expected Kitt to be there.

"He's gone for a drive," Bonnie's soft voice came from behind him and he turned to look at her. "He'll be back soon. I think… we didn't listen to what he said outside the convention centre."

Michael shook his head. "You mean I didn't listen. I was as shaken as him. I didn't realise something like this could happen and now it has…."

"He was violated. Someone took control of who he is, what he is, and turned that against him. He's bound to be a little unnerved."

Putting his back against the wall of the Semi, Michael slid down until his ass hit the warm floor. "I'll wait up," he told Bonnie with a brief smile.

She nodded approvingly and that made him smile even more.

It was over three hours before the ramp lowered automatically and Kitt's tyres hit the metal, the car sliding gracefully inside the truck, scanner swishing left to right.

"Michael? Are you all right?"

Reaching out, Michael stroked his hand over the smooth black prow, warm from the engine. "Not really, Pal. And I know you're not a hundred percent either."

The scanner halted, paused, resumed a slowly pace back and forth. But Kitt said nothing.

"You said it had been a harrowing experience and we just took the piss out of you. I'm sorry about that but I'm here now, so you can talk to me."

Still Kitt was hesitant, but finally Michael heard, "What was it like?"

He didn't understand. "What was what like?" But it was apparently a question Kitt couldn't clarify. "You mean, when you were talking back to me, blatantly putting me in danger, trying to kill me?" He kept his tone gentle, free of accusation. Still he caught Kitt's soft moan of pain. Shifting closer to the car, hoping to show his partner that he trust hadn't wavered, Michael rested his arm over the prow of the car and rubbed his thumb across the end of the scanner track. "It was terrifying. He turned all your power, your strength, everything you are against me. Clinging on to the car for dear life, having it throw me into that snack stand, pretending to be dead in case it came back to finish the job…."

Another soft, keening moan left Kitt's voice box, but he sounded calm when he said, "If you feel that you can no longer work with me, I will understand."

"Ah, Kitt… Sure it was bad. But it was nothing compared to the thought that I'd lost you. You were designed for me and ever since Devon handed me the keys, so to speak, I've taken that for granted. You may have been designed for me, but you've developed beyond your original programming and you deserve some…" he smiled to himself a little sadly, "some consideration."

"They said I was a tool, controlled by whoever had me."

Michael ached for his partner - for this gentle soul he'd grown to trust, to love in a strange way. "The car's a tool, Kitt, not you."

"But he was controlling me!"

With a soft sigh, Michael pushed himself to his feet and slid onto the silky black hood. "That's our fault. We didn't give you the protection you needed - the protection you deserved - but Bonnie's working on it, no one will ever do this to you again." Turning, he lay back across the hood, lifting one foot to the sloping edge of the car, pressing his left palm against the windscreen, staring up at the slatted metal roof of the trailer. "The thought of you in someone else's hands, even someone good, someone else like me, is an uncomfortable one. You're mine, Kitt, and however possessive, however proprietary that sounds, it's how I feel about you."

He knew Kitt was processing that.

"I wish there was some way I could thank you."

Something underlying Kitt's voice made Michael clarify, "Thank me?" Kitt wasn't saying what he wanted to say.

"I mean…." He faltered.

"It's okay, Kitt, just say it."

I've seen you hug people when you're happy, or to comfort them."

"And here I was thinking you didn't hold any store by our odd human interactions." He let his sarcasm reassure his partner. "Want to hear a secret? I wish I could touch you too. You wouldn't believe the number of times I've just wanted to throw my arms around you and hug the life outta you." He moved his fingers over the hood in a slow arc. "This is as good as it gets, Kitt," he murmured, his meaning vague even to himself.

"Can you understand how I feel after what happened today?" Kitt enquired, voice soft.

"Yeah, I can, Partner. I was as scared as you. But it isn't going to happen again." Unnerved, yes. Shaken, definitely. Both of them. And as Michael was starting to realise, it was going to take a while to work it all out. It just wasn't beyond he and Kitt. Nothing was.


End file.
